Elephone U & U Pro Review

If it goes to Elephone, then the Elephone U Pro will be promoted to the upper class and become a flagship killer. The 6 inch 18:9 smartphone will be released in two versions: the Elephone U with Helio P23 CPU and the Elephone U Pro with the powerful Snapdragon 660. The AMOLED panel is bent on both sides, similar to the Samsung S6 & S7 edge. This finds place in a housing with a metal frame and a glass front and back. Right away: if the Elephone U Pro looks like this, we bow to the manufacturer – the Snapdragon 660 is reserved for big players like the Xiaomi with the Mi Note 3.

The rest of the equipment leaves nothing to be desired, especially the Elephone U Pro is even better equipped. The dual camera on the back of the phone should also be mentioned here: If it fails with the cheap smartphones because of the software, you can rely on a software specialist for smartphone cameras with the Elehphone U and U Pro – are we expecting real bokeh shots? The Elephone U is listed at $349.99 and the Elephone U Pro is listed at $419.99 – a decent price, comes here real competition for the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 and OnePlus 5T?

Elephone U Pro Official Video

Design

The new phone has a typical 18:9 look: both at the top and bottom there is a narrow edge, with the camera, loudspeakers and sensors located above the display. Below there is no space for buttons, these have to be displayed on-screen. The front is always black. The Elephone U is surrounded by a metal frame in case colour. Here you can choose from 4 colours: Black, blue, red and grey. The back of the smartphone is made of glass and is only interrupted by the oval camera mount in black. The fingerprint sensor is also located here, but is well integrated into the design.

The front side testifies to its premium appeal with the curved display and the glass above: this looks very chic and makes the smartphone even narrower than it already is due to the 18:9 format. The screen-to-body ratio is 87%, although it should be slightly lower – the Samsung S8 has 83%. The notification LED must not be missing on such a high-class smartphone.

What you have seen so far on the Elephone U and Elephone U Pro definitely makes you want more! The smartphone has a great design: the backside is kept simple and the curved display looks a lot better. We are curious to see whether Elephone will succeed in realizing the project and how the final case will turn out.

Display

The Elephone U and Elephone U Pro both offer a 5.99 inch display in 18:9 format. An AMOLED panel will be used, offering great contrast and strong colours. In addition to the modern Rounded Corners, the display and the glass will be curved to the left and right above – similar to the edge models of Samsung and the Samsung S8, the screen resolves in Full HD+ with 2160 x 1080 pixels, resulting in a PPI of 403 at nearly 6 inches. Gorilla Glass 5 is used to protect the beautiful glass as well as possible – we hope that this also applies to the back.

The display bent to the sides is already a premium class feature! The Elephone S3 could already be described as borderless, but with the Elephone U and U Pro you go one step further.

With the large 6-inch and 5.99-inch displays, the curved display probably makes more difference. The smartphone becomes even narrower and is easier to reach. However, you have to live with the fact that contents are also displayed by rounding. You get used to that, but it’s not ideal: for videos, you should look at the display from the front.

Power

We have seldom seen such a difference: in both versions two different chipsets are used! The Elephone U uses the new CPU from MediaTek, the Helio P23. The Elephone U Pro seems to have the same chip as the Xiaomi Mi Note 3: the Snapdragon 660 Octa Core! In AnTuTu Benschmark the SD660 is twice as fast.

This will be the biggest difference between the two versions: the Helio P23 is a reasonable mid-range processor that provides enough power for everyday use, but one has to endure losses in 3D games. The P23 lacks power reserves.

The Snapdragon 660 is completely different: the Octa Core is placed among the top models of the 8xx series, but offers plenty of power. The same goes for memory: with the 4GB RAM and 64GB system memory you get along well. But the U Pro simply offers more: 6GB RAM and 128GB of memory. This is simply the difference between middle and upper class! We are curious to see if the Snapdragon 660 will be used. The Elephone U Pro will probably be released a little later and should be shipped with Android 8.0. The Elephone U comes with Android 7.1 and Android 8 is to be delivered with an update. Android should be left mostly original, but you can see some adjustments / optimizations on the pictures.

Camera

Is it really so far – do we experience the advantages of a Dual Cam now also with other manufacturers than Xiaomi and the other premium brands? Both models will use the same setup: two 13MP sensors are working on the back, one single 8MP sensor on the front. The software needed comes directly from the specialist: ArcSoft will provide the necessary software. The RGB sensor and the Mono Sensor create bokeh shots in a network. The Selfiecam doesn’t come up with that, but the software offers filters and stickers (as we love them from social media apps?) as well as face beauty features.

Via the front camera, the Elephone U and U Pro will offer Face ID, which will be added later via an OTA update. But we are not sure yet that we will finally get some bokeh shots here, which the Dual Cam Trend promises us. If a different camera software is used, you can also expect that normal pictures will also become better – we are curious.

Connectivity

The expensive Elephone U Pro gets a little bit more love with the additional equipment: here you will find NFC, the latest Bluetooth 5.0 standard, instead of 4.0 in the Elephone U and Beidou for navigation. Quasi a small incentive to persuade the buyer to buy a better version, because the rest of the equipment is identical.

Otherwise, you will find a full cabin at the new Elephone Flagship. Full reception is guaranteed, including LTE band 20, GPS, AGPS and GLONASS as well as a compass are available for navigation. The SIM slot is a hybrid slot: either 2 Nano-SIM cards or a Nano-SIM and a microSD card for memory expansion. WLAN access is via the ac standard and 2.4 and 5GHz networks. A phone jack has no place in the housing, this must be done via Bluetooth or USB-Type-C. A large selection of sensors is available for both versions: Light, acceleration and proximity sensors, fingerprint sensors and a gyroscope. A Hall sensor also gives hope for a smart protective cover.

Battery

The Elephone U and Elephone U Pro should use the same battery: this is 3550mAh large. The difference is the chipset! Qualcomm is known to deliver significantly better energy management. The difference can be seen in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4: the switch from the Helio X20 to the economical SD625 catapulted the note 4 into the battery runtime Olympus. The Elephone U Pro should reach a value of 8 to 10 hours in the PC Mark battery benchmark with the 5.99 inch display and Snapdragon 660 CPU. That’ll last you two days. The Elephone U has a MediaTek processor, but the Helio P23 is still an economical colleague. The Helio P25 is a good middle way between performance and economy, the P23 clocks even a bit lower. Similar devices are not yet available: in the battery benchmark you can count on a running time of 5 to 7 hours. The Elephone U will probably only last one day instead of two. The same image appears when charging. The Snapdragon 660 of the Elephone U Pro offers Quick Charge 3.0 and thus 9V / 1.67A. This will make it possible to literally “fully pump” the battery. The premium version is also equipped with wireless charging. The Elephone U can only be charged with 5V / 2A via the USB Type C connector. Wireless charging is also not available.

Elephone U & U Pro Gallery

Where to buy

Now, Promotions of it at Gearbest may be the cheapest time to buy Elephone U and U pro.

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Summary

The Elephone U and Elephone U Pro are both beautiful smartphones with a large curved display that cast their premium spells. Even the rest of the hardware knows how to convince, there is practically nothing missing. And if we finally get a reasonable dual cam, the Elephone U would be a blessing. But: the Helio P23 from the normal version is quite nice - a classic mid-range processor. Only the Elephone U Pro! they plan to install a Snapdagon 660 caused quite a sensation. This could be a hit of the year, IF really such a potent chipset comes along.